A big fan of the game of baseball itself, who just happens to have no favorite team.

2012 GIBBY Awards

The 2012 Greatness In Baseball Yearly (GIBBY) award winners were announced yesterday afternoon. The GIBBY Awards are awarded for 21 different categories including Rookie of the Year, Play of the Year, etc. These awards are given to the winners based on votes by you the fans at MLB.com, media, front-office personnel and MLB alumni.

Although I’m a day late, I wanted to take the time to publish a post with a list of the winners along with my opinions:

MLB MVP OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Mike Trout

Winner: Miguel Cabrera

It wasn’t all that shocking that Miguel Cabrera beat out Mike Trout for MVP of the 2012 season. Although I had Trout as the MVP, since just after the All-Star break, the majority of baseball fans felt Cabrera was the most valuable. So, while I disagree, I’m not surprised with how the fans voted.

HITTER OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Miguel Cabrera

Winner: Miguel Cabrera

While I feel that Mike Trout was the most valuable player of the year, there’s no doubt in my mind that Miguel Cabrera was the best hitter of the year. Becoming the first player in 45 years to win the Triple Crown, it was really no contest. Thus, I fully agree with the outcome of the vote for this particular category.

STARTING PITCHER OF THE YEAR

My original pick: R.A. Dickey

Winner: R.A. Dickey

I’m not sure if R.A. Dickey was THE best starting pitcher of the 2012 season, but I picked him to win the award nonetheless. Dickey seemed to be able to produce a quality start every time out, so I suppose he truly was the best candidate for the award.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Mike Trout

Winner: Mike Trout

Leading every rookie in all of Major League Baseball in every conceivable statistical category, there was no other way this vote could’ve gone. Trout did things that no other rookie in the history of MLB has ever done, and thus is the correct choice for Rookie of the Year.

CLOSER OF THE YEAR

Winner: Fernando Rodney

This particular category wasn’t voted on by the fans, but I agree with the pick nonetheless. Fernando Rodney posted an ERA of 0.60 in 74.2 innings pitched, and was able to close out the game for the Rays nearly every time out; recording 48 saves. Truly remarkable.

SETUP MAN OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Sergio Romo

Winner: Sergio Romo

Sergio Romo had one of the best seasons of his career, and truly earned this award. Without Romo doing what he did all season long, and into the post season, it could be argued that the Giants don’t win the World Series. So I fully agree with Romo winning.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Mike Trout

Winner: Yadier Molina

I don’t necessarily disagree with Yadier Molina beating out Mike Trout for this award, but I still feel that Trout should’ve won. It seemed like every other night Trout was robbing a guy of a homer, or making a diving grab to take away a base hit. So I don’t fully agree with Molina winning this award.

BREAKOUT HITTER OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Chase Headley

Winner: Chase Headley

Chase Headley recorded a dismal 4 home runs and 44 RBI’s in the 2011 season, and going into the 2012 season no one really expected anything drastically different from Headley. Yet, he was able to have a career year, blasting 31 home runs and 115 RBI’s. Truly worthy of the breakout hitter of the 2012 season.

BREAKOUT PITCHER OF THE YEAR

My original pick: R.A. Dickey

Winner: R.A. Dickey

Going 8-13 in 2011, with 134 strikeouts in 208.2 innings pitched, R.A. Dickey truly was the breakout pitcher of the 2012 season as he completely turned things around, going 20-6, with 230 strikeouts in 233.2 innings pitched. Being that his 2012 performance was good enough to earn Dickey the Cy Young award, I fully agree with him winning the GIBBY.

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Buster Posey

Winner: Buster Posey

After spending much of the 2011 season on the disabled list, Buster Posey made a major comeback in 2012 as he was able put together a fantastic year; which resulted in his 2nd World Series ring in just his 3rd career season. In addition to winning yet another Championship ring, Posey also took home the award for National League MVP, thus making him worthy of the GIBBy, in my mind.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Bob Melvin

Winner: Buck Showalter

This award could’ve gone either way for me. Although I picked Bob Melvin to win, I’m happy with Buck Showalter winning. Both managers were able to completely turn around their teams from the previous year and so I wouldn’t have been upset with either winning the award.

EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Mike Rizzo

Winner: Billy Beane

I thought Mike Rizzo did a fantastic job this year with the Nationals, but after thinking it over, I agree with the pick of Billy Beane for the award. Beane has always impressed me with the way he goes about his job in such a proficient way, and he did an absolutely incredible job in 2012. I couldn’t agree more with the pick of Beane for the award.

POSTSEASON MVP

My original pick: Marco Scutaro

Winner: Pablo Sandoval

For me, this award came down to Marco Scutaro, Pablo Sandoval and Sergio Romo. You could make cases for each of them, as to why they were most deserving of the GIBBY, but in the end I picked Marco Scutaro. I felt Scutaro came through for the Giants time and time again throughout the entire post season, but I can’t really complain with Pablo Sandoval winning the award.

PLAY OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Davis tops Toronto’s tall wall

Winner: Mike Trout’s catch at the wall

Under the circumstances, I felt that the catch made by Gregor Blanco to preserve Matt Cain’s perfect game was the best play of the year, but I thought THE overall best play of 2012 was the catch made by Rajai Davis over the Rogers Centre’s 10 foot high left field wall. Apparently, the majority of the baseball world didn’t agree with me, as they voted Mike Trout’s catch at the wall as the best of the year. While Trout’s catch was incredible, in my opinion, no one made a better play than Davis, thus, I don’t agree with the voters’ pick.

STORYLINE OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Stars of tomorrow excel today

Winner: Tie- Orioles’ & Nationals’ Seasons

I’m a big prospect/rookie guy, so maybe that’s why I felt Mike Trout’s and Bryce Harper’s incredible rookie seasons were the best storyline of the year, but I enjoyed keeping up with the National’s and Oriole’s seasons as well. The fact that the Nat’s were able to go from an 80 win team in 2011 to a 98 win team in 2012, with the O’s going from a 69 win team in 2011 to a 93 win team in 2012, was interesting enough to make even the slightest of baseball fan pay attention. So, while it wasn’t my first choice, I suppose I agree with the O’s and Nat’s amazing seasons receiving the GIBBY.

HITTING PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Hamilton’s four-homer game

Winner: Hamilton’s four-homer game

There were a lot of great hitting performances this past season, but none were better than that of Josh Hamilton on May 8th against the Orioles. Going 5-5, with 4 home runs (the 16th player in MLB history to do so), Hamilton certainly put on quite the slugging performance, thus making him worthy of the GIBBY for hitting performance of the year.

PITCHING PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Praising Cain

Winner: Praising Cain

When trying to decide which performance to choose, it came down to Johan Santana’s no-hitter and Matt Cain’s perfect game. While both performances were franchise firsts, Cain’s perfect game was the most impressive of the two, as he recorded a total of 14 strikeouts. Cain no doubt had the best pitching performance of the 2012 season, and as such, deserved the award for this category.

ODDITY OF THE YEAR

My original pick: What a relief

Winner: Michael Morse’s

My original pick for this particular category was Orioles’ first baseman Chris Davis picking up the win in the 17th inning of a 9-6 win versus the Red Sox–after going 0-8 at the plate, with 5 strikeouts. I really don’t see how Michael Morse beat out Davis by simply reenacting his home run swing after the umpires made him re-circle the bags, so I don’t agree with Morse winning the GIBBY.

WALK-OFF OF THE YEAR

My original pick: A legend’s last long ball

Winner: A legend’s last long ball

Chipper Jones’ walk-off “yicketty” in the bottom of the ninth, of the Braves’ September 2nd win against the Phillies, was by-far THE best walk-off of the year. The entire 2012 season of Chipper Jones was absolutely incredible, and to end it with a walk-off bomb by Chipper is just a storybook ending to an amazing career. Chipper was certainly most deserving of the GIBBY.

CUT4 TOPIC OF THE YEAR

My original pick: Young fan scores special moment with dad

Winner: Bryce Harper

It seems Bryce Harper wins every possible award he gets nominated for, and while most of the time it makes sense, this time I don’t agree. I feel the young boy who got the surprise of seeing his dad who had just returned home from Afghanistan was the best Cut4 topic of the year in my mind. So, while Harper was the overall baseball topic of the 2012 season, I don’t agree with him taking home the GIBBY.

POSTSEASON MOMENT

My original pick: Sandoval’s homer trifecta

Winner: Raul Ibanez

I don’t really see how Raul Ibaez could beat out Pablo Sandoval for postseason moment. I’ll admit, when Ibanez hit those home runs to come through for the Yankees when they needed him, I was up off my seat; stunned with what I had just seen. But Sandoval did something that had only been done by three other players before him: Hitting three home runs in a World Series game. How do you not vote for that? I’m truly baffled.

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If you made it to this point, thanks for reading. I know a blog post without any pictures (not to mention nearly 2,000 words) can seem to drag on forever, but I just wanted to get my opinions out there on this year’s GIBBY awards.

The remaining blog schedule I have laid out for the rest of 2012 should be a lot more entertaining. So stay tuned….

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